Jeremy Tauri: Help to move your business

Jeremy Tauri

Business relocation - whose role should it be?

It can often be said that if you want something done you may have to do it yourself.

But for a change, wouldn't it be good to know that if you were considering shifting your business of 30-plus staff to another part of the country, there would be some assistance to get you from place A to place B? Especially when the region you are moving to stands to benefit substantially from your arrival.

Now I know what you're probably thinking, this guy wants subsidies for businesses. But I'm not necessarily suggesting we lean on taxpayers or ratepayers.

Instead, what I think we need is a concerted effort by all provincial centres to hone what they can offer businesses thinking about relocating to their region, and systems and processes to help them do it.

Moving a business is a big undertaking. You have to find premises, potentially alter agreements with your suppliers, move your staff. But regions are shaped by the type of businesses that flourish there.

The staff put their money into the local economy and their time into the community. It is in local interests to encourage the kind of businesses we want into our areas.

The message I am getting is there seems to be a lack of information available in many cases. You see, put simply, businesses employ people, and so if they're going to shift the people, the things that are important to them are knowing that in a potential relocation their people are looked after.

Are there good schools, affordable houses or houses becoming available through some good planning, adequate public facilities such as hospitals and parks and recreation, childcare, and of course things to do.

While the economy is strong, some councils are putting business support into the "too hard" basket. But it is the actions we take now that will set us up to ride out any coming downturn.

Jeremy Tauri is an associate at Plus Chartered Accountants